


Amalgamation

by homeboundrunnerfive



Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: F/M, Female Runner Five, Mild Language, Spoilers for Season 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-10-20 00:51:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17612309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/homeboundrunnerfive/pseuds/homeboundrunnerfive
Summary: ”Okay, Runner Four is closing on your position. Listen for her. She’ll be coming down that mud track to your left. She’s there to help, Five. You know her. It’s Jody!" Sam pleads into the transmitter as he watches the exhausted and very much disheveled runner closing in on Five from three different camera angles.”Runner Five, it’s me!” Jody pants more than shouts as she emerges from the bushes and falls into line behind Five on the well-trodden track.—(or: Sam’s point of view during the time Five was under Moonchild’s mind control)Set between S3M44 ”Welcome Home (Sanitarium)” and S3M49 ”Sowing Season”. Spoilers for the entirety of Season 3, just to be on the safe side concerning references.





	Amalgamation

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to my beta reader @are-you-sure-its-me-you-see, who took the time to read through this entire mess and still had the patience to say nice things about it afterwards. I would also like to once again thank @siriusmistake for their wonderful transcripts, which I obsessively referenced during my process. It certainly made my work on this little thing a whole lot easier, so thank you very much for your hard work!

The last month has, in Sam’s opinion, been a very dramatic and soul-crushing clusterfuck.  
  
While Janine may find it strategically valuable to learn the true and numerous identities of Abel’s many enemies, Sam only feels sick to his stomach looking back on past incidents knowing it could all have been circumvented if they had known what they know now.  
  
Moonchild wouldn’t have fooled them all and managed to destroy the only working mind control antidote machine at Tavington Clinic and also the entire world. There wouldn’t have been any gunmen attacking New Canton and no council members would have died. Moonchild would not have talked a frightened and injured man into feeding himself to zombies. The Comansys scientist Holly Farnsworth wouldn’t have taken a bullet between the eyes. Sam would not have argued to spare the life of Moonchild, the woman he then had called ”a harmless and little dippy drug dealer way into crystals and spirit energy that was definitely not evil but rather actually nice”. He wouldn’t have actually had to own up to himself that he kind of regretted being compassionate towards her.  
  
Having Maxine back and in her right mind has been the only upside as far as he is concerned. Save for that straight up miracle, it’s been a month Sam could have gone without, to put it lightly.  
  
But to move forward in the aftermath of the apocalypse, you must look to the past for ways to continue surviving. That’s why, over the course of the last three days, Runner Five has been put through daily meditation and hypnosis sessions under the guidance of Ministry official Isabel Marriott. Sessions that Sam isn’t quite sure he understands the purpose of. He technically knows the goal is to reproduce the Tavington Clinic machine effects through hypnosis. But it seems like the only thing that really happens is Five runs, and Isabel tells Five that she should be feeling very sleepy. When Janine called it ”a bunch of cobblers” Sam’s somewhat inclined to agree, but better to be positive. Anything to keep his runners safe is worth a shot.  
  
He briefs Five on the fourth and hopefully final session of their hypnosis experiment she is about to take part of as she exits the raised gates and settles into a slow jog. Sam spends the time chatting with Isabel about Jamie’s sudden blue blood transfusion and the complete set of Blake’s 7 DVDsgifted to him by said royal when he is interrupted by the petite woman sitting next to him in the cramped comms shack.  
  
”Sam, I think it might be time for you to leave,” Isabel says carefully, tilting her head with an apologetic smile on her face as she leans away from the transmitter towards him.  
  
It takes Sam a moment to process the change of subject, and that she has actually asked him to leave his own comms shack while one of his runners is out in the field with the ZRD conducting a mind control experiment. ”What? No, no way. My runners never go for runs without me.”  
  
The Ministry employee tilts her head even further to the side, and gives him a sympathetic look. ” Doesn’t Janine sometimes guide them?”  
  
”Well, yes.” Sam replies hesitantly. Which, in his opinion, is not the same thing and also not something he particularly enjoys. Before he can open his mouth to respond further, Isabel continues.  
  
”And Doctor Lobatse?”  
  
"Yes, but she’s a doctor, and so is Maxine, before you say her, too,” Sam says hastily and leans forward in his chair, which he quickly realises makes the distance between them a little too close to not be awkward given the small space the two of them are currently occupying. He does not lean back, though. This is his space, and Five is his runner and responsibility. ”It’s dangerous out there, Isabel! And it’s my job to protect them.”  
  
Also, a very small part of him is unwilling to leave Isabel alone in the comms shack for completely material reasons. A few weeks ago Runner Thirteen, Eleven and One had come back from a particularly successful tech run and given his little set-up a rather noticeable upgrade. One monitor without a single crack, almost an entire cardboard box of wonderful cables, two new microphones, a slew of different batteries, a clean keyboard and a pair of black and orange headphones with a working transmitter and absolutely amazing audio quality. It’s childish, but Sam would prefer not to leave his brand new and very valuable toys with a virtual stranger.  
  
”I’m sure that’s true, Sam, but in this particular instance, you’re more of a hindrance than a help.” Isabel says patiently, and Sam can’t help making an offended face at the insinuation that he is anything but a helpful operator. He rapidly schools his face into a more appropriate look, keeping his twitching lips shut to let her finish. ”Runner Five has to enter a hypnagogic state, and you’re too much of a reminder of the real world.”   
  
That is enough to make him pause. It is a valid point, and almost a flattering one at that, to be described as an anchor for his runners.  
  
”Hmm. Yeah, I suppose. Okay, I’ll keep quiet. I’ll only interrupt if a dangerous situation arises,” he concedes, leaning back enough to be comfortably out of the awkward zone he accidentally created by trying to make a point earlier.    
  
Isabel seems to suppress a sigh. ”It’s not just that, Sam. Hypnosis sessions are very personal. It wouldn’t be right for you to listen in. I’ll take very good care of Runner Five for you, I promise.”  
  
Sam’s first instinct is to flat out refuse, further assert himself as the primary person in charge of his runners and insist that she can’t take care of his runners the way he can because he knows them better than she ever will.  
  
But that is the tipping point. Sam does know Five. She is an intensely private person. While there has been no incidents in the field, you’d have to be an absolute moron to miss the fact that there are certain things Five prefers to keep to herself.  
  
And being the dutiful runner that she is, she’s not the type to ask for privacy during a run, regardless of the circumstances. Sam scrunches up his face in frustration. If he insisted on staying, he would certainly feel much better, but maybe she wouldn’t. Maybe it would break the very fragile trust he so painstakingly worked to build between them over the years.  
  
”Mm, right. Yes, okay.” He runs one of his hands through his hair and gets briefly stuck on a knot somewhere on the back of his head. It feels uncomfortable to leave the comms shack to a stranger. Getting up from his chair, he leaves his new, wonderful and absolutely invaluable headphones on the very edge of the desk as far away from Isabel as he can possible put them to lessen her temptation to switch hers out once he exits. ”Um, well, I’ll be just outside if you need me.”   
  
”Thank you, Sam,” she says, giving him a brief smile before turning back fully towards the monitors and addressing Five. ”Okay, Five, let’s start again. Run for another few minutes to clear your mind, and keep the pace up!”  
  
As he closes the door behind him and walks out into the surprisingly harsh sun, Sam doesn’t really know what to do with himself. Usually, when he finds himself with some free time, he has been waiting for it so long that he has a list of things lined up. No morning shifts? Sleeping in, without any regrets. A few hours free around lunch time? Visit Maxine and Paula in the hospital for some goofing off, under the guise of bringing them food. A rare night off? Spending time with his runners behind the safety of the township walls, maybe even a session of Demons & Darkness if the mood is right.  
  
But an hour with nothing to do with one of his runners still in the field?  
  
It makes his skin itch.  
  
He plays around with the idea of visiting Maxine, but quickly discards it. She has been up and down in that medically induced coma for so long with Paula agonising in her absence, and it hasn’t been hard to tell that the two lovebirds were quite eager to spend some unsupervised time together free from the threat of sudden mind control. He’ll see them later if they decide to take a pass at the mess hall later in the evening.  
  
Since he is still technically on the clock, he could go do something productive. Help out in the gardens, or the kitchens, or something similar. But he doesn’t want to stray too far from the comms shack in case they decide to cut their hour long session short. It’s not that he’s very worried about Five, because she’s more or less a superhero and she’s got the ZRD with her. But things happen and maybe some of the new and upgraded equipment decides to go haywire and Isabel will have to call on Sam to swoop in and save the situation, proving his usefulness.  
  
In the end, Sam just loiters about mindlessly, staying close, while drawing figures in the dirt and looking at the clouds passing by overhead. He tries hard not to wonder what personal and secret things Five might be revealing.  
  
After about twenty minutes of dawdling, the door to the comms shack creak open and Isabel steps out.  
  
Immediately, Sam is on his feet and striding towards the door, but she puts up one hand and holds up another gripping a tan folder while giving him a professional-looking smile. ”I seem to have left some of my notes with Doctor Cohen after our last discussion about the hypnogogic trance state.”  
  
”… Okay,” Sam says slowly, trying to decide whether the implication that the session is not finished is subtle enough for him not to just very quickly check in on Five under the pretense of not understanding her hint. His fingers twitch involuntarily, and he shoves them in his pockets to hide the response.  
  
Isabel playfully narrows her eyes at him, seemingly having caught him out. ”I checked every camera in a kilometre-wide radius to make sure Runner Five is safe, and she is still in a hypnogogic state that I do not want you to break her out of for the sake of accuracy in testing, as I’m sure you understand.”  
  
”Okay, um, yeah, of course, but…” Sam mumbles, unwilling to admit he was thinking about walking in and possibly ruining whatever experiment they have been working on for almost a week, yet uncomfortable with the fact that the comms shack is being left unmanned with someone beyond the walls. The nagging discomfort is enough to make him catch her eye and raise his voice. ”But protocol is not to leave a runner in the field without monitoring because of the dangers.”  
  
”True. And I hope you don’t think so lowly of me to assume I was about to leave a runner unattended, even though that very same runner has been issued the ZRD to ensure her safety. But I admire your…” Isabel pauses pointedly, with a twinkle in her eye. ”Loyalty. Perhaps you could run over to Doctor Cohen and fetch my notes from the last trial? File number SC5.”  
  
Sam nods, giving her two finger guns, before rushing off towards the hospital and sarcastically congratulating himself for actually giving a Ministry employee finger guns under his breath, because who doesn’t love to embarrass themselves in front of important government officials?  
  
As he is about to walk through the southern entryway into the still somewhat dilapidated hospital building he spots a messy mop of reddish hair and a white coat walking towards the Quad out of the corner of his eye.  
  
”Um, Paula?”  
  
The figure turns around, and gives him a small wave as they approach.  
  
”Hi Sam!” Paula says, greeting him with her usual quick hug. ”What’s up? Looking for Maxie?”  
  
”Ah, no,” Sam chuckles, before adding on the question just to make absolute sure nothing has happened. ”But she’s around here somewhere, right?”  
  
”Yeah, she’s taking a power nap. Or rather, passed out over a desk. I’m hoping she’ll actually sleep for an hour or so, so I was just going to bring back some scraps from the mess hall if there’s any left at this hour.” Paula smiles abashedly. ”We kind of missed the bell.”  
  
”So everything’s normal, then,” Sam laughs, clapping a hand on Paula’s shoulder before wrapping an arm around them, steering the two back towards the hospital. ”But actually, I was looking for you! Isabel needs the notes from her last hypno-thing session with Five and says she left them with you after your science chat about it. I kind of need it right away, so if you could just help me find it in the absolute mess you’ve got going on in your research lab I’ll let you be on your way.”  
  
Paula’s cheerful demeanour turns into one of confusion, but she doesn’t fight him changing the direction of their walking. ”What science chat?”  
  
”Okay, sorry, a professional science _discussion_ about the _results_ and _possibilities_ of the hypno-something-something-thing,” Sam jokes, punctuating certain words to parody the occasionally stiff lingo Ministry employees usually adopt in official settings. Paula continues to stare at him blankly. ”Um, file number SC5, if that helps jog your memory?”  
  
Somewhere in the not too far distance, there’s a rhythmic creaking sound.  
  
”No, I’m sorry. I think maybe Isabel has me confused with Maxie? Which is really… weird, because we haven’t discussed any of her trial sessions,” Paula puzzles, looking a little disheartened by the possibility.  
  
”I don’t think she mixed the two of you up, Paula,” Sam reassures her, squeezing one of her shoulders. ”She called you Doctor Cohen and everything. But you’re sure she didn’t stop by at all yesterday and maybe left something somewhere?”  
  
Lifting a hand up to rub her chin, Paula seems to take a moment and think. ”I’m kind of sure we didn’t talk yesterday at all. I saw her in the Quad with Janine around noon, but that’s it.”  
  
Sam sighs loudly and very exaggeratedly, letting his arms fall from around Paula while giving her a playful look. ”Okay, well, thank you so much for your help, I’ll just run back to the woman that kicked me out of my own office like a little errand boy and ask —”  
  
Somewhere in the not too far distance, the rhythmic creaking sound stops. It’s enough to snap Sam’s brain into full-blown panic mode and completely derail his sentence and thought process.  
  
The sound is familiar and completely terrifying. The sound of gates raising, before grinding to a halt, leaving the entrance to Abel completely open. Which can only be done from two places in the entire township with the express confirmation from either Janine, or the sitting radio operator. Without as much as a passing glance to Paula, Sam launches into a sprint back towards the comms shack. He can hear her confused calls for him as he runs, but the blood pounding in his ears drowns her voice out.  
  
From a distance, he can see that the door is slightly ajar and when he bursts into the tiny shack — almost taking the door off its hinges — it’s empty.  
  
The orange headphones still rest on the very edge of the desk where he left them, though.  
  
Throwing himself into his spinning chair, Sam frantically turns on all the dark monitors and presses the button to lower the gates. Next, he checks the on-call list for the day and starts hailing Owen, Jody and Roman. Before any of them can answer, the monitor permanently fixed on Abel’s entrance flickers on and displays the gate hitting the ground, and only then does Sam take another breath. He can spot Isabel on one of the cams, who’s already over half a kilometre away from the township dressed in different clothes and seemingly heading in the general direction of New Canton. Thankfully, in the complete opposite direction of where he last saw Five.  
  
” _What’s going on, Sam?_ ” Jody splutters over the radio waves, sounding flustered. ” _Was there a mal —_ ”  
  
”Get to the gates and get ready to run.” Sam grits out, flipping between cameras in the field to try and locate Five. ”I don’t know exactly what’s going on here, but Runner Five is out in the field conducting an experiment for the Ministry, and I think their official just took off out the gate. I — I don’t have eyes on Five.”  
  
” _The hypnosis ex — okay. I will — I have to — I’ll be at the gate in one minute, Sam!_ ”  
  
He switches over to his usual frequency. _”Runner Five, can you hear me?”  
  
_The absolute silence in his headphones is not helping him maintain composure as he agitatedly hops from one camera to the next looking for Five, starting from her last known location and working outwards. Dread swells with each empty section of the surrounding area he clears.  
  
Isabel was in here alone for almost half an hour. Five could have been led into an ambush or a trap mere seconds after Sam left. She might have been dead for almost thirty minutes.  
  
” _What’s my mission here, Sam?_ ” Jody questions as she enters Sam’s field of vision by the once more raising gate, stretching her legs and getting ready to run.  
  
He gawks at the monitor for a second in absolute astonishment. ”What do you mean _what is your mission?_ Go out there and get after her! ”  
  
” _Which one, Sam?_ ” Jody clarifies, sounding sincerely apologetic about her question. ” _The runaway Ministry official or Runner Five_? ”  
  
”Runner Five!” Sam splutters. ”She’s our runner!”  
  
”But if there’s an infiltrator —”  
  
”Five is our runner and she has the ZRD. Had it. Might have it. It doesn’t matter. Something’s wrong. She might… She’s not answering.” Sam thinks he might see Jody nod on the monitor before she sprints out of the gates, guards laying down a small smattering of covering fire as she goes. ”Destination three kilometres north of here, across the meadow and through the horrible forest with a million trees to block my view, for now.”  
  
”Got it.”  
  
The breathing in his headphones grow rhythmic and quick, and Sam is immensely grateful that Jody seems to be burning the rubber right from the get-go as she flies over the grass beneath her.  
  
”I can’t get a good fix on your location. Where the hell did she send you? Five, could you please respond? Are you okay?” Sam listens intently for any response, but all he can hear through the headphones is rough breathing. But then a familiar figure crosses the corner of one of his monitors, and the relief he feels is akin to taking that first gulp of air after a long dive beneath dark waters. ”Okay, you just ran through my shot, thank God, finally. Runner Four, I have eyes on Five. Keep going for straight another six hundred meters to the tree line.”  
  
Sam quickly starts planning ahead, using additional monitors to cover any and all possible directions from Five’s current location to make sure he won’t lose her. Unfortunately, he realises that he’s not in a good position time-wise. Five was not sent out with a headcam due to the nature of her run, and if she keeps going north about another two and a half kilometres she’ll be out of his visual range. Jody might be able to catch up to her before that, but she could just as easily not  
  
”Five, can you hear me? Are you… are you awake, like, not still hypnotised or can you actually…?” The following stubborn silence is like yet another assault on Sam’s sanity, and the rising, very much overwhelming panic is actually starting to make him queasy. ”Just, please talk to me! Where are you going, Five? Ugh, what’s she done to you? You’ve got to resist this. Just listen to my voice. You’ve got to slip out of it!”  
  
” _Sam! Directions?_ ” Jody huffs out as she closes in on the aforementioned tree line.  
  
”Five’s about another four minute run northeast. Keep going past that cluster of bushes to your left and then take a right onto the mud track that goes further into the woods, and I think your paths will almost perfectly intersect if you keep pace.”  
  
” _I’ll try, Sam._ ”  
  
Swallowing thickly, unsure of how to warn Jody of what she might be rushing into, Sam mutes Five’s frequency for just a moment. ”Just, Jody, um… Five’s not… right. Something’s wrong. She seems… I think she’s some kind of hypnotised, and I… It looks like she can hear me but also not? And she is not at all stopping.”   
  
Sam takes a deep breath, trying to stave off the panic while also trying to quiet the whispering guilt rising like vomit in his throat. He left Five alone in the field with some stranger, but only worried about his new headphones. Casually joking around with Paula away from his station, while someone opened the gates for zombies to swarm into a township populated by innocent people and children.  
  
While Jody sprints like the devil is on her heels, Sam patches into the receiver in Janine’s office to call to brief her on the situation. She’s supposed to have a few days off, what with having been tortured by her unbalanced brother, but Sam knows her well enough to know that she’s not really predisposed to just relaxing no matter the circumstances.  
  
The alarm starts blaring through the township at the first mention of a rogue Ministry official, and Sam has to deliver his briefing very loudly to make himself heard. His rushed explanation of what has transpired and his direct response to that doesn’t seem to be to Janine’s liking. Especially the part about sending someone after Five for her safety, rather than for the express purpose of retrieving the ZRD.  
  
”We will have words about your priorities later, Mr Yao.” Her tone is harsh, and while Sam doesn’t agree with her pragmatic perspective on things all the time, it is weirdly comforting to know that someone as tough as nails is ready at your back just in case.  
  
”But our runners are my —” he starts.  
  
"For now, retrieving the ZRD is of the highest priority, _but_ —” Janine interrupts, making her no effort to keep the irritation out of her voice. ”— that might incidentally help Five’s situation. I was present for all her sessions, and studied the data results. We still don’t fully understand how the ZRD works, but it seems to somehow rely on neural oscillations, much like the machine at Tavington clinic and its neutralising effects, which the hypnotic sessions have been attempting to recreate. It therefore seems like a possible hypothesis the ZRD is interfering with Five’s ability to disengage from the hypnosis due to conflicting neural oscillation signal boosters. I will have to speak with Doctor Myers immediately. Keep me updated, while I have Abel searched for any signs of foul play.”  
  
”I’ll keep you updated,” Sam parrots.  
  
”Good. Well done on the swift response, Mr Yao. De Luca out,” Janine says brusquely, seemingly adding the last bit on to soften her goodbye before dropping off the frequency and leaving him with only the sound of heavy breathing in his headphones.  
  
It’s all he can do to stay sane for the excruciatingly long time it takes for Jody to catch up to Five.  
  
”Okay, Runner Four is closing on your position. Listen for her. She’ll be coming down that mud track to your left. She’s there to help, Five. You know her. It’s Jody!" Sam pleads into the transmitter as he watches the exhausted and very much disheveled runner closing in on Five from three different camera angles.  
  
” _Runner Five, it’s me!_ ” Jody pants more than shouts as she emerges from the bushes and falls into line behind Five on the well-trodden track. Sam’s new headset perfectly translates the desperation in her voice, as opposed to getting lost in static. For a horrifying second Jody stumbles, her worn trainer catching on a rock dug deeply into the dirt. Thankfully, she regains her balance before Sam even has time to imagine what would have happened if she fell.  
  
The view on his cams is far from pristine, and the angle is rather bad on two out of the three he has on their current position, but Sam can read the situation between two of his most favourite runners in a heartbeat. Jody looks in a bad way, and even through the grainy footage Sam can tell her face is red and glistening with sweat. Her steps are erratic and it is obvious she’s running on nothing but fumes at this point. Five, in turn, violently flinches and shoots a panicked look over her shoulder before quickly facing forward again and continuing to run.  
  
Sam presses a hand to one of the headphone speakers tightly into his ear, trying to differentiate which heavy breathing belongs to which runner and whether he can tell just from that if Five has been snapped out of whatever mindfuckery that ministry employee did to her.  
  
Jody runs up almost alongside Five, obviously struggling to keep pace, while reaching out with a shaking hand to grab ahold and slow her target down. ” _Just stop and look at me!_ ”  
  
Sam almost bites through the skin of his lower lip as Jody fails to grab Five’s arm for the third time and falls even further behind as a result of her failed lunge. He stares intently at the grainy figure of Five on his largest screen, body and mind almost thrumming with stress. The thick forest obstruct his view, but about another five hundred meters ahead lies a meadow, which is where Jody’s odds at catching up to Five will be at their peak, as opposed to now where she’s forced to weave between the many trees and navigate hidden obstacles on the forest floor.  
  
His sympathy is torn between the two of them. On one hand, he very much wants to unapologetically order Jody to go faster and physically restrain Five at any cost, even though he knows she’s been pushed far beyond her limits already. On the other hand, he isn’t ready to believe Five is completely gone.  
  
”She can’t keep up with you at that pace. She’s run flat out all the way from Abel!” he tries, appealing to Five’s compassion, while looking intently at his screens for any micro expressions in her body language that would indicate an emotional response. She may be stoic, but Sam knows she cares deeply about her fellow runners.  
  
Her hurried rhythm does stutter for the faintest of moments, and then Sam can only watch in horror as Five impossibly speeds up even more, entering the open field and tearing down the dirt road towards the shaded tree line. Out of the dense woods, he can actually get a good look at her and it is plain as day that something is wrong. Her rhythm is off, motions less economic and more sloppy than usual, eyes wild, steps erratic, looking over her shoulder almost every fifteen seconds, face pale and sweaty. She looks absolutely terrified.  
  
Sam’s hopes of Five simply being a little confused like after the other standard hypnotic session go out the window. Her mind is somewhere else, and apparently a scary place at that.  
  
He allows himself a quick outburst, kicking the chair he had brought in for Isabel to the ground, before turning back to the monitor and the situation at hand.  
  
A terrified and most likely hypnotised Runner Five, that he cares very much about, with the ZRD in her possession, running God knows where at dangerously high speeds, seemingly incommunicado. The most important objective given the current situation would be to stop Runner Five from going rogue, and retrieving the ZRD.  
  
However, if she gets to the northern forest and off of the track, all that will become an impossibility. Sam might appear to idolise certain runners, which may be true to some degree. Sometimes, he simply doesn’t even consider the possibility that certain tasks and feats are beyond them and turns a blind eye to their weak spots. But as an adoring fan he has no delusions about what each runner’s strong sides are, especially when he has seen it with his own two eyes time and time again. While Jody is the best at acceleration and capable of impressive bursts of speed, there is no runner in Abel that has come close to even competing with Five in off-road natural terrain.  
  
Sam clicks between cams, muttering to himself beneath his breath to keep his mind on task. After a hasty calculation, reality feels like an ice bucket dumped over his head. At the current breakneck speed Five is going at, Jody needs to catch up to her within two minutes or she’ll be gone.   
  
” _There’s nothing chasing you, it’s just me!_ ”  
  
For a moment, Sam is frozen with fear, doubt and overwhelming guilt. His mind runs away from him to play out horrifying scenarios, unable to focus on the monitors in front of him. Five disappearing like a shadow into the woods with the ZRD, never to come back. Seeing her standing in line of the mind controlled armies, bearing down on Abel and everything he loves. Moaning zombies honing in on the lone runner in the dense woods, with Five unable to take a single action to save her own life.  
  
Jody’s panicked screech over the comms breaks him out of his stupor. ” _Five’s getting away, Sam!_ ”  
  
”You have to get Five back! And the ZRD!” he replies hastily, adding on the last bit as almost a panicked afterthought. ”We think it’s doing something weird to Five.”  
  
A selfish part of him would rather that Five was protected by the ZRD if she is to be out in the woods alone without his guidance.  
  
The tree line is less than one hundred meters away, and Jody’s window of opportunity is closing. Either she brings Five down now, or she’ll be completely out of their reach. Tackling her to the ground, sweeping her legs, grabbing her ponytail, any method to stop her would be fine with him at this point. He sucks in a quick breath, hoping for the best. Jody is at the end of her rope. Maybe a strong tug will knock Five off her feet and out of whatever trance she’s in.  
  
Even though he fears what the very physically intimidating and armed Five might do to smaller and vulnerable Jody in close quarters. ”Jody, grab Runner Five’s pack. One burst of speed, come on!”  
  
” _Runner Five!_ ” Jody’s voice echoes over the comms, the quality crisp and clear thanks to his new headset. She is closing in, and her right hand is only centimetres away from Five’s bouncing pack.  
  
” _I can nearly reach — Don’t!_ ”  
  
It happens almost in slow motion. Mere meters away from the forest line, Jody’s hands find purchase. The grainy cameras make it impossible to tell whether she has managed to grab on firmly, but it doesn’t matter. Within milliseconds, Five has slithered her arms and shoulders out of the straps of her pack and kept on sprinting into the woods, only unbalanced enough to clip the trunk of a gnarled tree standing at the very edge of the forest line in her hurry.  
  
" _I’ve got Five’s backpack, but I can’t keep up!_ ”  
  
Sam can hear Jody continuing to call for Five as she disappears into the woods faster than the other exhausted runner could possibly run in that rough terrain, but her voice seems to reach him though a layer of molasses, a feeling somehow thicker than panic enveloping him. They’ve reached the end of his camera coverage. He simply stares at the monitor, watching Five’s familiar form become a small speck in the distance between the dense trees and foliage until she is gone.  
  
Jody is still running after Five, and gives up the chase at the very edge of his field of vision when she trips over something and is sent flying down beneath thick underbrush. Her heavy breathing eventually turns into gasping apologies, clutching the weathered pack with the ZRD in her arms.  
  
” _What do I do now?_ ” Jody hiccups between breaths after a few minutes of radio silence.  
  
I don’t know, is the first thought that comes to Sam. Five is gone, either under Moonchild’s control or someone else’s. There is no possible way of catching up to her now, yet it is impossible for him to actually accept the reality of what just happened.  
  
” _Sam, I’m so sorry. I tried, I just couldn’t, she’s so fast, I —she didn’t listen to me, she just — I’m so, so sorry —_ ”  
  
The guilt of not only letting Five be basically abducted but also abandoning a scared Jody in the field is enough to snap him out of his state and back into action. He is still Abel’s only radio operator, even if he just failed in his duties. ”Don’t be sorry, Jody. You did everything you could. Come home, please.”  
  
Mechanically, Sam hails Janine on her office receiver. He gives a rather flat briefing of the past fifteen minutes, flitting from camera to camera checking Jody’s route home to firmly ground himself in the present rather than spiralling into an emotional black hole.

When Janine enters the comms shack like a dark storm cloud one minute and fourty-seven seconds later, Sam is watching Jody on the screen and wondering if the stubborn, strong-willed and intensely private Five would have preferred death over mind control.

 

—

 

Looking at the salvaged surveillance footage from the Laetitia Greenwald is almost more than Sam can handle, and he fears the worst. But at this point it’s honestly difficult to tell what would be the worst. Watching Five kill countless people, or just going about with his life without any sign that she’s alive.  
  
When he lays down in his cot one evening he thinks of Alice. How he wanted to see her just one last time after she was bitten, and how he regretted it with every fibre of his being when he saw her rotting body shot down in front of Abel’s gates. He cried himself to sleep that night, sleeping for the first time in a long time.  
  
Maxine and Paula have been doing their very best to cheer him up, but it doesn’t really stick. He just… doesn’t even feel okay about the thought of being okay with Five being gone. It seems wrong.  
  
Adding insult to injury is his complete inability to look at the two of them together and not feel hopeless. The machine they had hung all their hopes on has been smashed to pieces by Moonchild’s unconditionally loyal subjects. Whatever shot they had at modifying the blocking agent serum from the Laetitia Greenwald lies unrecoverable and blown to hell at the bottom of the ocean. Experimentation with the ZRD has led absolutely nowhere.  
  
The fact that Maxine is free from mind control is nothing short of a miracle. What are the chances that will happen again?   
  
So it’s no surprise that the last two weeks have been trying for Sam. The fact that Abel has been on continuous high alert has him in the comms shack almost every single hour of the day coordinating runners on reconnaissance missions tracking Moonchild’s many moves and countermoves, which has kept him distracted to a certain degree. But the obvious lack of Five’s designation on the mission’s roster over and over again has taken its toll. It’s escalated to the point that he often thinks he sees her sprinting across his monitors, only to be brought down low by the reality of her absence.  
  
His feelings are such a mess that he can’t actually tell if he’s missing Five, or mourning her.  
  
After a long day in the comms shack just after sundown, Sam spots Jody walking across the Quad, and catches up to her for a chat. To say that she’s been avoiding him would be an understatement, and for that very reason he has made it a point to make time for her whenever he can. Whenever the two of them have been alone, it has seemed like she’s been holding her breath, just waiting for Sam to condemn her. He tries to make more light-hearted conversation to cheer her up, but somehow the exchange makes its way back to the looming threat of Moonchild and, consequently, Five.  
  
”Jody, seriously. Look at me. I’m saying this for the last time now, you don’t have to tiptoe around me, please. When and if I talk about this, I’m just venting, okay? I’m not blaming you. This whole situation sucks,” Sam assures her as they walk, and Jody gives him a weak smile before turning her gaze back to the ground.  
  
He knows Jody has had a hard time accepting what happened and he’s been trying so hard to convince her not to carry it all on her own. Looking at her downcast face, it hasn’t been working so far.   
  
”At least you tried to stop her, you know. We tried. The Ministry is useless and this, funnily enough, seems to be the only restriction concerning her furlough that Janine is willing to comply with. Even though there seems to be reasons to continue doing everything else around here but looking for Five. Though, maybe she just stopped telling me things after I blew up at her last time. Which I suppose was a little uncalled for, but I mean, come on. Runner Five is not _just a runner_ ,” he grimaces, holding up air quotes to further parody the in his opinion completely soulless Ministry official in question. ”She’s one of us, not collateral damage! No matter what the Ministry says.”  
  
Sam sighs, carding his hand through his hair, which makes it apparent that he’s overdue for a good, long shower.  
  
”I know. I mean, Janine did seem a little on edge last time I talked to her, but… we all are, aren’t we? This whole thing is scary. Sometimes I feel like just about anyone could just turn around and stab me in the back at the drop of a dime. It’s got me seriously on edge.”  
  
”That was unnecessarily vivid, but yeah, I know what you mean. But wait, when did you talk to Janine?”  
  
”I had to give my recon report in person yesterday. Wasn’t exactly a friendly chat, though. I felt like I was back in the principal’s office the way she peppered me with questions.” Jody mutters, clasping her hands and stretching her arms out in front of her briefly.  
  
”Did she say anything?” Sam coaxes. It’s been days since he had any news, no matter how absolutely inconsequential they have all turned out to be.  
  
Jody makes an apologetic face as she lets her arms fall to her side. ”Sorry, no. I actually asked, though, but it was the same old story. Haven’t heard anything. Ministry aren’t saying anything.” **  
**  
”You’d think they’d know this is serious!” he scoffs agitatedly, kicking at a pebble on the ground. “Just a runner.” **  
**  
Suddenly, Jody tenses like a spring and turns her gaze towards the latrine blocks about thirty meters to the left. ”Hey, Sam, do you see that? Someone moving in the bushes!”  
  
”You’re right, there’s someone there! I can see them!” The agile form, the glimpse of a ponytail whipping behind them, and a familiar rhythm to the quick steps. Sam can feel it like a clean punch to the gut. There is absolutely no doubt in his mind. ”I think it’s Five. Raise the alarm!”  
  
The loud horn starts blaring across the township and things start moving very quickly. People are scrambling to get the gates closed after the sabotage and neutralising the handful of zombies that have already gotten into the township. Five — he knows it’s Five, it has to be, no matter what Janine says about it more likely being her brother — gets lost in the resulting chaos. He quickly assigns himself to hold position six with the ZRD without a second thought, somehow knowing in his gut that this is where Five will show up if she is the invader. He doesn’t have to stand on his post for very long before she slips through the door, closing it quickly behind her. Very much alive, seemingly unharmed and definitely still under mind control. **  
**  
"Hey, Five. I knew it was going to be you,” Sam says glumly, shifting his weight awkwardly while keeping his gaze firmly locked on Five. She’s still in the shadows a few meters away, and he can’t actually look her in the eyes properly. ”I felt your presence. Yeah, that’d be a better joke if it was Christmas.” **  
**  
Five takes a few steps forward, saying nothing, and Sam can feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Allowing Moonchild to steal the ZRD is just not an option, which is what he suspected was her plan for Five and the reason why he rushed here of all places. But he didn’t actually think this through properly. Not only is he completely unwilling to actually hurt her in this state, but the truth is he probably isn’t actually capable of doing so either. They may be about the same height and size, but Five is without a doubt the stronger one of the two.  
  
And she is gripping the handle of her axe in her right hand very tightly.  
  
”Five’s here,” Sam shouts, trying to make his voice carry as far as he can while still sounding calm and non-threatening. The headset he carries at all times for emergencies like these crackles with static, but no one answers. ”I’m okay, just need a bit of help. Five’s here.” **  
**  
Five takes another few steps forward, and Sam can finally look into her eyes. Her pupils are blown wide, which gives her a rather delirious demeanour. The serious, somewhat guarded expression that is usually on her face is gone, replaced with an eerie calm. Stepping across the floor, however, what is left of Five shines through in the way her body moves. A certain kind of calculated and fluid movement that is completely unique to her, and very familiar to Sam.  
  
It all reminds him of an old drawing game for kids he used to do with his sister called the Exquisite Corpse. He would draw the head of the body, fold the paper over it and pass it to his sister who would then draw the next section, and then back and forth until the two of them would finally unveil whatever monstrosity they had created together.  
  
The person standing before him now is an intimidating amalgamation of his Runner Five and Moonchild.  **  
**  
”It’s not you, you know? Something’s happened to you,” he implores, speaking softly and looking for signs of recognition in her hazy eyes. ”But I know you’re in there. I do! I just feel it. The thing is…”  
  
There’s a pause, as he arrives at the crossroads with a sigh.  
  
Sam knows the most impactful thing he could say to her would be the truth. That he knows Five enough to see her underneath all of Moonchild, that during these last two weeks he has missed her beyond what rationality allows, and that he just loves her so much.  
  
He has no idea the depths of Five’s feelings for him. Few people are as guarded and hard to read as she is. He’s known that he’s been completely and ridiculously sold on this runner for quite some time, although whether Five has realised that or not is a complete mystery to him. But, at the very least, Sam knows that she cares deeply about him as a friend, enough to somewhat hesitantly work to dismantle the walls she’s build around herself to allow him the smallest of peeks inside. Like the time she admitted the reason for being so quiet compared to the rest of the runners was due to her insecurity with the English language as a non-native speaker.  
  
Sam could say all of it, and just pray it lights a fire in her strong enough to fight Moonchild.  
  
Five moves towards him another sluggish step, and without consulting with his brain Sam’s feet clumsily stumble backwards, leaving him almost leaning against the cabinet containing the ZRD. In his chest his heart is beating a mile a minute and his mouth feels dry like the desert.  
  
He can’t say it.  
  
Not only does he still fear rejection in this goddamn situation, which is just completely and absolutely absurd, but he also worries about what memory Five will have of him if… this goes south. Maxine told him about the time she was under mind control and how unconditionally happy she was no matter what she was doing.  
  
Once again, like the many other times in the last two weeks, he finds himself thinking it’s difficult to decide what would be worse. Five never feeling any regret about killing him under the unyielding thumb of Moonchild’s control, or Five living with the reality of having killed him with glee after breaking free from hypnosis.  
  
Sam swallows nervously, sweat starting to bead on his brow. His lips won’t move. He just can’t say it. The next best thing would be appealing to her infallible pride as an Abel runner.   
  
”Look, I’ve watched you all run so much. I don’t even need cams half the time. I’d know who was who by the sound of your steps. And I can hear it in yours now. You’re not running like yourself. You sound like one of those drones! Mechanical, each step the same.” Time seems to slow down as he speaks, but not a single word seems to causes a reaction. Five still stares at, and also through, him. Like he isn’t a person that she knows, but rather a mere obstruction soon to be easily tossed out of her way.  
  
Sam is actually a little surprised no one has responded to his call for help yet as she takes another uneven step forward, this time bringing her right hand to the front, gripping the handle of her axe with two hands.  
  
If she takes another step forward, he’ll be within reach of it.  
  
”Except sometimes, just for a second, you go back to yourself, your own rhythm,” he continues, desperately searching for any signs of rebellion or recognition.  
  
The movements are jerky and awkward, but Five is slowly drawing back with the axe and adjusting her stance to accommodate a forceful swing. Sam doesn’t dare to look away or break eye contact, barely even breathe. After a few shaky seconds, the weapon is raised above shoulder height and Five is properly positioned like a batter on the plate.  
  
”I know you’re in there, Five,” Sam breathes. ”I know you can fight it.”  
  
For a moment, Five’s eyes seem to mist up, and her grip on the axe grows so tight her knuckles are going white. Then, a mild spasm travels across her face and Five makes pained grimace before moving forward just enough to put him within reach. She has once again assumed the trademark delirious mask of the mind controlled.  
  
Sam stumbles backwards, but only hits the cabinet once more. The round, brass doorknob hurts quite a lot when it hits the small of his back. ”Five, no, please. This isn’t you. You don’t want to do this!” he pleads, though it looks his words is falling on deaf ears.  
  
As he raises his arms to helplessly protect himself from the swing, Five seems to readjust in the blink of an eye and make a twirling motion with her hands to flip the axe around. Her face is still oddly distorted and her eyes are still misty, but the axe is also still moving. With that, his belief has finally been shaken and Sam gives up on the last bit of hope that Five will snap out of it in time. She is about to kill him in cold blood, and he is more scared of dying than he thought he would be. ”No! Help! Someone, help! No, no!”  
  
The flat side of the axe smashing into his head is intensely painful, and feels what he imagines a clap of raging thunder booming directly inside of a person’s brain would feel like. In the blink of an eye between taking the hit and falling unconscious on the ground at Five’s feet, Sam has three thoughts.  
  
One, the pain is immense. Two, there is no blood. Three, he failed. 

 

—

 

The night that follows is one of the worst since Sam got to Abel. Janine was the one to find him, and only spends a short moment looking him over before declaring him temporarily fit for duty because of the extreme circumstances. When she discovers the ZRD is still in place, she unceremoniously throws it into her backpack, barking at him to get himself into the comms shack and online to coordinate their defence before rushing away again.  
  
”Get yourself checked out by Doctor Myers when this situation is under control, Mr Yao. For now, it’s all hands on deck!” she yells at him as the door swings closed, leaving him clutching at his pounding head where a distinct bump is already starting to form.  
  
Sam has no idea how long he’s been out, why he’s still alive or how in the world the ZRD is still in the township, but decides he’ll have to philosophise over the seemingly impossible circumstances later. When he falls into his chair in the comms shack, thankfully undisturbed and fully operational, the hours start to blur together. It’s almost like an out-out-body experience, watching himself smoothly direct runners to block off zombies from spreading further into the township towards the housing barracks. There are about three dozen still on moving about, though no fast zoms as far as he can see.  
  
Janine has expertly divided the township into four zones and staggered their defence in intervals. The first one consists of the main gate, their incomplete Defence Tower and the hospital along with the Armoury, and was also the first area to be swarmed by zombies but then quickly abandoned as the small horde moved further in towards the fleeing population. Following is the second zone which is the most open and difficult to defend, consisting of among a few other thing his comms shack and the several Runner’s Barracks. Third zone is along the inner wall, which is a fancy name for what ultimately is just a long chainlink fence, which temporarily shields the fourth and final zone that most importantly includes the farming and housing area filled with civilians.  
  
In the first zone Roman, Imran and Paula are somewhat awkwardly corralling a few slower zoms into the quarantine pens originally designed for residents sporting symptoms or suspicious marks with to spend the night, while coordinating with the two gunmen remaining that patrols the wall about outside activity.  
  
Jody and Kytan are proving to be a surprisingly efficient killing duo in the eastern part of second zone. Time and time again Kytan baits small groups of zoms to follow him through the designated streets, while Jody picks them off one by one with her bow and arrows perched on top of nearby roofs. Yang and Owen are having a harder time in the western part by comparison as the two seem to be slightly out of sync with each other. Owen also lacks Jody’s skill with ranged weapons, but they are getting by without any close calls.  
  
The rest of the Runners are on herding duty along the third zone, leading undead stragglers back into the designated areas for Kytan and Yang to bait and bring back for slaughter. Atwood and Jordan are stationed in the fourth zone as a last line of defence, armed with precious automated weaponry.  
  
Sam closely monitors on every inch of the township he has coverage of, making sure no zombie pops up out of bounds or as a surprise to any runner. The work is slow and arduous, but together they chip away at the invading horde until there is only a handful left. By that time they’ve gotten to that point, Sam guesses it won’t be long before the sun rises on a new dawn. When he is confident that he has eyes on every last zom in the township, he hails Janine on a private channel.  
  
”Janine?” Sam starts carefully.  
  
” _Yes, Mr Yao?_ ” she answers quickly, sounding a little out of breath and very much irritated. The alarm in the background doubles weakly through the headphones on a slight delay, layering with the much louder blaring outside the shack.  
  
”It was Runner Five. I saw — I talked to her. She was here.”  
  
” _I am very much aware of that, Mr Yao. This whole debacle is clearly yet another one of Moonchild’s attempts to seize the ZRD, and it has failed. The faster we can clean up this mess and prepare for her next strike, the better, so you would do well to do your part in that and focus on the situation at hand._ ”  
  
”That’s not what I meant, um. What I mean is — zone one is more or less under control now and the teams in zone two are exhausted, but almost at the finish line. Most runners in zone three are still on their feet and ready to tag in wherever necessary. I already have a sleep schedule written up to keep things efficient.” He starts impatiently fiddling with a pencil, tapping it against his open notepad. ”So I figure we could have Paula out in the field to go after Five once the sun’s up. Now, I know it sounds like a long shot by I could —”  
  
” _Mr Yao, I —_ ”  
  
”Look, I know what you are going to say, but this is the best lead we’ve had on her since she was taken and I think this is the best opportunity we are going to get!”  
  
” _Abel is on lockdown, and there are still undead running inside the walls of my township. We can absolutely not spare any of our precious resources or runners at this time. All effort must be directed towards strengthening our defences and ensuring the safety of our people. Not to mention the very great likelihood that any pursuing runner might be led into yet another one of Moonchild’s traps, leaving us even more vulnerable. But —_ ”  
  
”If this was what Five could do all by herself, imagine what Moonchild could make her do with a literal army of mind controlled people at her back! And Five is our people! One of our people! What —”  
  
” _Enough, Mr Yao! We can’t spare the runners, and you know that!_ ” Janine snaps, before sighing loudly. It’s physically painful for Sam to keep his mouth shut as she continues in a slightly softer voice. ” _I know how you feel about this issue, and while I also acknowledge the strategic value of bringing Runner Five back home, it simply is not enough reason to do so if that means compromising the safety of Abel and its inhabitants. But I had an interesting chat while you were on your post with some outside agents. They have offered to bring Five back, and while they aren’t the rescue committee I would have chosen under better conditions, it is the best we can do at this stage._ ”  
  
”What outside agents? What — how, no, why would you trust Five’s life to outside agents, Janine?” There’s a brief pause, as if she’s deliberating whether or not to respond at all. ”Janine?”  
  
” _It’s Simon, Sam,_ ” she says flatly. It takes Sam a moment to comprehend what she is saying. Of the things he would have expected to happen today, Simon reaching out to Janine after all this time to offer his help was not even up for consideration. There’s a long, heavy silence from Janine’s end before she elaborates. ” _And Miss Spens, unfortunately. It is not ideal, but at the moment we can’t afford to be picky, and I’ve been assured that she would not only bring Runner Five back but also ’unscramble and polish that sexy, hippie-infested brain’ to use her words._ ”  
  
”In what world can they do that? Maxie and Paula have been working for weeks without results! What do they want in return?” Sam splutters, switching over only for a moment to give Kytan and Yang a countdown of how many zoms are left for them to bait before returning to the private frequency.   
  
” _Apparently, Miss Spens has been hard at work, and they have allegedly managed to their hands on a small quantity of the blocking agent serum from the Laetitia Greenwald before Moonchild sunk it. They believe the necrotic side effects will be non-consequential to Runner Five because of Van’s Ark’s forced treatments, a piece of information which I assume is the only contribution Mr Lauchlan made to this operation. Their asking price is not something I will discuss on an open channel and nothing you need to concern yourself with for now._ ” It’s brief, but Sam believes he can detect a hint of disgust in Janine’s voice. Sam was so hurt by Simon’s betrayal that he sometimes forgets it might have hit her even harder. ” _Miss Spens and Mr Lauchlan are still wanted by the Ministry, and I don’t want our communications coming to light. But, Mr Yao, if it does work, not only will Runner Five remain healthy throughout the process, but also become permanently immune to Moonchild’s mind control._ ”  
  
It’s enough to make him pause, but only because it sounds too good to be true. Simon and Amelia have made it perfectly clear to everyone left in the civilised world that they are only looking out for themselves. Once bitten, twice shy, as they say. On the other hand, Sam wants it to be true so badly he can’t even put it into words. So he settles for asking Janine’s opinion, which he does still hold in high regard despite everything.  
  
”Do you believe them?”  
  
” _I don’t know, to be perfectly honest. They have proven to be untrustworthy in the past, and I dislike them for a n additional number of other reasons as well. But I can’t see any other options. Not to mention that I worry what backup plans Miss Spens might have if I choose to decline their offer.”_ Sam’s inclined to agree on her with that one. Amelia doesn’t like to be the one left with the short end of the stick if she can help it. _”If this was the first of Moonchild’s attempts to get the ZRD, I fear for what she has in store for us next. So the only logical thing to do is prepare for whatever her next move will be, so that innocent people don’t die in the crossfire or end up under her control. I’m sorry if that is not the sentimental drivel you want to hear, but it’s the truth. Now, I ask that you to return to your duties with the knowledge that what can be done is being done. De Luca out._ ”  
  
There’s a soft click, and Janine disappears from their private channel only to make herself heard on the designated runner’s frequency, delivering orders along people stationed along the inner wall.  
  
Though it leaves a bitter taste in his mouth, Sam stays put. His mind does stray, to consider both highs and lows, but his obedience holds firm. As the sun rises on Abel, the last shambler has been put down and the decontamination protocol has been set in motion.  
  
Sam takes on the role of coordinator, staying in the comms shack to direct runners and other personnel in accordance with protocol while keeping a close eye on any further possible undead movement outside the gates. But now that the alarms have gone silent and the very immediate threat of danger has passed, those precious hours of sleep lost makes themselves known throughout the township.  
  
Unlike most of his runners, however, Sam is feeling wired. The nervous energy is brimming, keeping him alert, and has him flipping through the cams closest to Abel for any signs of Simon, Amelia or Five every thirty seconds.  
  
The process is slow and incredibly tedious. Several security sweeps over the three first zones have to be made before people other than runners and guards are allowed clearance. Children and other vulnerable civilians must be divided into smaller groups, herded into different locations and checked for bites by designated inspectors to prevent a full-scale outbreak. Decaying body parts must be collected and disposed of very carefully, and the decontamination itself requires such minute attention to ensure nothing infectious remains that it feels like it will never end.  
  
The people of Abel work tirelessly and almost without complaint, and when lunchtime rolls around after more than six hours they have finally reached an acceptable point where the general population is allowed to move around the township.  
  
Out of the corner of his eye, Sam spots movement on a monitor to his far left. It’s at the very edge of his field of vision and looks to be a beaten van driving off, leaving a person standing behind in the dust.  
  
His stomach does a painful flip, and he has to remind himself not to get his hopes up. It’s only been a few hours since she slipped out of Abel. Five couldn’t possibly be that easy to catch, and there is no way Amelia is that efficient. Not to mention it certainly isn’t the first time he has thought he’s seen Five, only to be proven wrong. Both his body and brain is still chock-full with adrenaline and he hasn’t slept for over twenty-four hours. The most probable explanation is that he’s still reeling with conflicting emotions at recently having seen her with a lethal weapon in her hands ready to strike him down.  
  
Odds are the person moving towards the closed gates of Abel is someone else. Maybe a panicked and lost inhabitant of the township that somehow got locked out during the zombie incursion returning back home. As the person gets closer, the more rational options dwindle down to almost nothing.  
  
It’s enough for him to chance it.  
  
He discreetly calls in a yawning Maxine to take over for him, ensuring her he’ll only be gone for a moment or two. The wide-eyed look on her face as she also spots the person hobbling towards the gate on the monitor says a lot, building his expectations up even further. But he still has to check, to make absolutely sure. Hurrying through the township has his heart rate climbing to indecent levels. As he arrives at the gate, he finds it already rising at a steady pace, and he feels a sudden surge of warmth through his body at Maxine trusting him that much.  
  
The figure is walking slowly, almost dragging their feet about twenty meters away from the gate. Every piece of clothing they are wearing is ripped, almost completely covered with either dirt or dried blood, and the handle of a worn axe is sticking up behind their left shoulder emblazoned with the number five. They’ve been haphazardly patched up by someone, and white bandages are wrapped around both forearms and right thigh. Sam doesn’t even register a guard yelling him to wait as he strides out to meet them. No one makes any further attempt to stop him, so he keeps going.  
  
It’s her. More broken, and more haunted than when he saw her last. A little more empty. The manic gleam of Moonchild in her being has been replaced by mournful apathy. But it’s still Five. In spite of everything.  
  
To his surprise, Sam doesn’t feel even slightly conflicted. He would have expected a great big mess of emotions exploding at the sight of her. Pain, knowing what she’ll have to live with having done. Guilt, for allowing this to happen to her. Anger, at seeing what Moonchild did to her. Sorrow, looking at the dullness of her eyes. But all he feels is inconceivably thankful to have her whole and free in front of him.  
  
It will probably all boil over at a later date, though. He’s fine with that for now.  
  
Before he can even consider what he’s doing or the consequences of it, he has pulled her into a close embrace. It might not be the smartest thing in the world to do, but it’s impossible for him not to. Her arms hang limply at her sides as he wraps himself around her completely, hands snaking underneath the handle of the axe hanging on her back. Five starts at the contact but stays put, shaking slightly. At first, Sam thinks she might be shivering, but her skin is hot to the touch, almost feverish.  
  
”You’re here,” he breathes into her neck, tightening his hold around her even more as if she might disappear into thin air. ”It’s you.”  
  
Five doesn’t answer.  
  
It's bad, Sam thinks, but it could be worse. 


End file.
